Collaborative Branding 06 - Evaluation

After successfully presenting the final re-branding of Help-Link, these were some of the comments that were made on our performance.

• There was good critique on the flaws of the original logo, but we didn't elaborate on the adjectives that we used to represent the flaws. 
• The visual presentation could have been a lot more impactful. Presentations should not be blocks of text because the audience will be busy reading off the screen and not necessarily listen to what you have to say. 
• There was good reasoning on our choice of colour but again remove the blocks of text. 
• We failed to elaborate on why Helvetica was less friendly in our view.  
• We had a good use of type terminology which showed that the typography lecture was useful.
• The final choice of colour was arguable. Our shades of the blue gave off the impression that we sold refrigerators, and the light blue in "first" might be too 'icy' to represent the warm customer service we wanted to reflect. These colour observations were ones that I did not realise until we got another point of view.

Whilst listening to other groups presentations, I picked up on key ideas that were missing from our design process.

• When designing a new logo for a company, it is always good to know your target audience. It makes for a better contextual logo, and will be more successful. 
• A fantastic logo re-brand included the versatility of interchanging the company's services within the logo name. For example, the group that was given "Global Autocare" to re-brand, decided to change their name into "auto one". Because of this two worded two coloured logo, this meant that they could swap out the "one" and replace it with any of the services the company offered. For example "auto garage", "auto hire"and "auto storage". This combination had great potential on the company's website. It maintained the company's identity but yet showed off the different aspects it offers to customers. 
• A look into the company's history and linking where they are based into the final design was a good idea.
• Looking at how a professional typographer creates letterforms and applying it to the creation of the new logo. 
• Creating an unintended but useful image in negative space through the merging of two letterforms. 
• Looking at how an actual real life re-branding from serif to sans serif has an effect on the company's image. 
• Taking a letter in the company's name and turning it into something recognizable on its own, like the G in Google. 
• Looking at different sector companies to see how they sell their image. For example how do car manufacturers or fashion labels sell 'luxury'.
• Rather than putting an image into negative space, why not manipulate the letterforms into a bespoke logo in itself. 
• How watching a documentary or film in the field of art and using the views discussed inside. 

Here is the general feedback all the groups received that will be beneficial for future tasks and briefs.

• If it is an international company, how does it appeal to its global audience?
• It is essential to give various context to the logo, to see how well it looks in the real world and on different platforms.
• You must have rationale for everything you decide on. 
• Inclusion of the company's tagline that can become part of the logo and not a separate entity. 
• Linking the design of the typeface to the company's image is a great idea.
• A company and typeface may have similar design influences. For example the company crosswater and the typeface Futura are both Art Deco inspired. 
• A retro slogan can link well with a retro redesign. 
• Look at how language they use to communicate with their audience.
• Experimenting with all kinds of scale to see the effect of kerning.
• We have to be more confident in delivering design ideas because you're selling your decisions.

Despite our relative success in re-branding a company logo, its still early days into the course and there is much to learn in refining our design processes and final outcomes.